Congressional Briefing June 1, 1998,
Re Nuclear Weapons Convention


Monday June 1, 1998
441 Cannon - 2:30 - 4 pm

Dear Colleague,

Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey invites you and your staff to a briefing on proposed negotiations leading to the conclusion of a Nuclear Weapons Convention and the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention on Monday June 1. At this briefing we will discuss the progress and outlook of these efforts. In addition we will discuss the Model Convention which was circulated by the United Nations in 1997 as a work in progress setting forth the legal, technical and political issues that should be considered to obtain an actual nuclear weapons convention. Just as conventions exist for the abolition of both chemical and biological weapons, the world needs a convention for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The fact that India and Pakistan have agreed to participate in negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention should not be ignored. Undoubtedly the risk of an arms race in Asia is extremely serious and could easily escalate into another Cold War scenario. The United States can ill afford to allow India to become a nuclear power and for Pakistan to match it stride for stride.

Guest speakers include:

Dr Theodore Taylor
Visiting Fellow Princeton University Center for Energy and Environmental Studies
Former nuclear weapons designer at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Merav Datan
Research Director for the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy
Drafting Coordinator for the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention

Jonathan Granoff
UN Rep. for the Lawyers Alliance for World Security
Vice President NGO Committee on Disarmament at the UN

I hope that you will be able to join us for this informative briefing. Staff and interns are welcome. We will also be providing light refreshments. Finally, you may be interested to know that I am introducing a resolution that calls for negotiations leading to the conclusion of a nuclear weapons convention and welcomes the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention as a discussion document intended to further such negotiations. For more information please contact Mark Dooley in Congresswoman Woolsey's office at 5-5161.

Sincerely,
Lynn Woolsey
Member of Congress
U.S. House Resolution No. 479, introduced June 18, 1998


Resolution Presented Proposition One